NOTES 



A Handy Relation 



American foresters in France were, of course, much interested in 

 French stumpage vahies. So many francs per cubic meter for the stand- 

 ing trees meant nothing to us ; we wanted to know in the units of vol- 

 ume and value that we were used to, so that we might compare French 

 with American timber values. Many pencils were sharpened to make 

 the translation, and the differing results sometimes brought on warm 

 disputes. The writer, like many others, no doubt, finally found an easy 

 rule of thumb to simplify the difficulty. 



One cubic meter of round material, of the sizes which ordinarily 

 occur in trees from 12 to 20 inches in diameter, contains approximately 

 one-fifth of 1,000 feet board measure log scale. One franc has a value 

 of approximately one-fifth of one dollar. Hence stumpage valued at 

 20 francs per cubic meter is worth approximately $20 per 1,000 feet 

 board measure. 



Southwestern Supervisors Hold Conference 



How to obtain an accurate inventory of the timber of the South- 

 western National Forests, to determine the extent of past cuttings, to 

 secure growth and yield figures ; in short, to lay a better foundation 

 for scientific management of the forests, was one of the chief topics of 

 discussion at a meeting of 15 supervisors and the district officers of 

 the x\rizona and New Mexico Forests, held in Albuquerque, New Mex- 

 ico, during the week beginning February 10. A workable scheme for 

 an extensive program of silvicultiiral management was presented and 

 approved. Many other problems of forest administration, particularly 

 those dealing with publicity, land classification, education, game, fire 

 protection, and grazing, were debated. The timber-sale business in the 

 Southwestern district is large. In the fiscal year 1918, 121 million feet 

 were cut under sale contracts, having a value of $273,500. 



At this meeting was displayed a device for more accurately deter- 

 mining the. location of forest fires, invented by W. H. Gill, of the Albu- 

 querque office of the Forest Service. The device, called a cameragraph, 

 is a proposed substitute for panoramic maps which have been exten- 

 .342 



